Off-Campus Healthcare Bringing in Solid Returns

INDIANAPOLIS—Echo Development Group, Inc. has acquired a two-building medical office portfolio located at 747 E. County Line, and 965 Emerson Pkwy. in Greenwood, IN, a south suburb of Indianapolis. The Chicago-based firm bought the approximately 88,000 square foot portfolio for $21 million, a move that gives it a good base in a rising market.

“One of the big boxes we need to check is a connection to a major health system,” Jon Boyajian, principal of Echo, tells GlobeSt.com. Franciscan Health, a top-ranked hospital system, is nearby, and its Franciscan Alliance occupies space in Echo’s new portfolio. The buildings are now 94% occupied, and include tenants such as Indiana Spine Group, Premier Family Medicine, Greenwood Orthopaedics, ProScan Imaging and Lanter Eye Care.

The seller was a local development company based out of Indianapolis.

“These buildings are in a great spot, right at Main and Main for the medical trade area,” Boyajian says. And he expects the submarket will remain tight for some time to come. There is no longer much land that developers could use for new product, and the cost of construction is high enough that tenants “can’t pay the rent it would take to replicate these buildings.”

Echo is looking at properties across the nation, including in CA and TX, but “Indianapolis is also a market we are very bullish on.” In fact, the company is in the very preliminary stages of examining whether it could add a building to this portfolio.

“We are believers in the healthcare asset class and its ability to provide strong risk adjusted returns for us and our investors,” adds Boyajian. “These properties allow us to achieve immediate scale in a great submarket of Indianapolis and feature incredible visibility, access, and convenience for both patients and providers. These site attributes are critical for the success of off-campus healthcare facilities and are an important part of our acquisition criteria.”